the created things in Paradise share names with the created things in this world, while their realities are not alike, how could the Creator be like a created being merely because He shares a name with it?

Allah Most High has described Himself as All-Hearing and All-Seeing, and has described the human being as hearing and seeing; yet the one is not like the other. He has described Himself as living, and some of His servants as living; yet the one is not like the other. He has described Himself as compassionate and merciful, and His Prophet as compassionate and merciful; yet the one is not like the other. He has described Himself as knowing and forbearing, and some of His servants as knowing and forbearing; yet the one is not like the other. He has called Himself the King, and has called some of His servants kings; yet the one is not like the other.

Such examples abound in the Quran and Sunnah. This, then, was the position of the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars, including the imams of the schools of law, such as Abū Hanīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, and others: affirmation without likening Him to creation, and declaring Him free of imperfection without denying His attributes. They neither adopted the position of those who deny His attributes nor that of those who liken the Creator to created beings. This is the way of the messengers and those who believe in them.

As for the philosophers and others like them who oppose the messengers—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them—they describe the Lord Most High through “negative attributes”: He is not this, not that, not such-and-such. They do not describe Him with any affirmative attributes, but only through negations that could equally describe what does not exist. Thus, their description corresponds to the nonexistent, so there remains no